VOLUNTEERS WANTED TO STAFF HISTORIC FIRE LOOKOUT TOWER

Building has been refurbished and is now open to the public

Fire watch

The Boucher Hill Fire Lookout Tower needs volunteers. Anyone interested is encouraged to contact Curt Waite at
elcariso@yahoo.com. Waite is the chairman of the San Diego-Riverside Chapter of the Forest Fire Lookout Association, the nonprofit organization that oversees the tower’s operation and spearheaded its restoration.

Last fall, a historic fire lookout tower atop Palomar Mountain — a tower that for decades had sat abandoned and rotting — was restored to its former glory.

Now back in use atop Boucher Hill in Palomar Mountain State Park, the only thing missing is enough volunteers to staff it during this coming fire season.

The Forest Fire Lookout Association wants you.

Located at the edge of a mountain at 5,438 feet, the tower offers panoramic views to the west, south and northwest. The first lookout tower built on the site was in the 1920s. By 1948, a third version of the tower was constructed and served as a working fire lookout until the early 1980s, when it was abandoned.

Back then, smog often obscured the ground, rendering lookouts in the area all but worthless. Other technological advances, such as cellphones and satellites, apparently made lookout towers even more irrelevant.

Once, 8,000 working fire lookouts stood throughout the United States. Now only about 2,000 remain, and fewer than half are actively being used for fire detection.

But as the air has cleared, the value of having human eyes staring out into the vast expanse is gaining a new appreciation.

The Boucher Hill tower was refurbished last year and now looks, inside and out, just as it did back in the 1940s.

Its primary purpose is as a fire lookout, but it also doubles as a gaze into history. In November 2011, an agreement was signed between Cal Fire and California State Parks, transferring ownership of the structure to the park. Since then, interpretive signs have been placed near the tower, and the public is welcome to climb to the top whenever a volunteer is present.

Curt Waite, chairman of the San Diego-Riverside Chapter of the Forest Fire Lookout Association, which oversees the Boucher Hill and High Point lookout near the Palomar Observatory, said volunteers from all walks of life are welcome.

He said the goal this year is to have High Point, which reopened in 2009, manned every day during the fire season. Boucher Hill is a secondary lookout which realistically he hopes can be manned most days during the season’s height.

“We need about 50 volunteers and have about 25 returning veterans, so we’re looking for 25 new people,” he said.

Waite said people can volunteer for as little as one or two days a month and have the option of just spending the day on the tower or sleeping over. Training sessions for new volunteers will be on April 6 and 13.